Juniors – What To Do in June
Summer is an important time for “rising seniors” as they are called in the biz. If your daughter/son has not started putting effort into the college process, NOW IS THE TIME! College applications are due starting in the fall and summer is a really good time to get started. The first step, as you’ve read many times if you are a subscriber to this newsletter, is to get a good list of schools that matches geographic, financial, academic, athletic, and social goals. The next step is to visit those schools. Please make an effort to have your child see as many schools on their list as possible before they apply. As regular readers know, schools often track interest level, and selective schools want to be convinced a student will attend if admitted. There are several places on the college application for students to highlight why they feel they are a good fit…it helps if applicants have first-hand knowledge of the school.
One other thing to do over the summer is create an Activity List if your student hasn’t already done this at school. The Common App requests students document the hours per week and the weeks per year for each activity. (This is not fun to do under the pressure of deadlines for application submission in the fall. Trust us on this one!) Activity Lists should include extracurriculars, participation in school clubs and activities, volunteer work, and work experience for all four years of high school.
Lastly, once your child has put together an Activity List, she/he should evaluate how best to make that list exceptional. For juniors, summer is the last chance to enhance a sparse Activity List. It’s hard to start a new activity and prove she/he is passionate about it, but it’s relatively easy to show deeper commitment to something she/he has already been doing or has done in the past. For example, if your daughter/son is a tennis player, can she/he volunteer or work at a tennis camp? Colleges are looking for quality over quantity when it comes to extra-curriculars.
For athletes, coaches can start calling athletes once per week starting July 1 for Division I and June 15 for Division II. If your student is being actively recruited, she/he should expect a phone call close to these dates. If she/he isn’t getting phone calls, she/he should increase efforts to contact coaches by phone or email. Depending on the sport and the division, spots may or may not be available on teams.
